Loose the sackcloth; ungird it and put it off; the antecedent put for the consequent, which is very usual, as hath been often noted. God would sometimes have his prophets to add to their word a visible sign, to awaken people's minds to a more serious consideration of the matters proposed to them. The sackcloth; either,
1. His coarse and hairy garment, which the prophets used to wear, 2 Kings 1:8 Malachi 13:4, as many understand it. But that is expressed by another word in the places quoted, and never, to my knowledge, by this word. Or,
2. His mournful habit, which was commonly made of sackcloth, and which he wore in token of his hearty grief for the great calamities which were already come upon Israel, and were either come or coming upon Judah. From off thy loins; upon which the upper garments were commonly girt, 1 Kings 20:32 2Ki 9. 1. Walking naked; not wholly naked, which had been indecent and scandalous, and withal very dangerous, at least to do so for three years, as he did, Isaiah 20:3; but without his upper garment, as slaves and prisoners used to do, whose posture he was to represent, Isaiah 20:4. And so the word naked is used 1 Samuel 19:24 2 Samuel 6:20 1 Thessalonians 21:7. Thus also men are said to be naked when they are ill clothed, as Job 22:6 Matthew 25:36 1 Corinthians 4:11 James 2:15. Barefoot; after the manner of mourners, 2 Samuel 15:30, and captives, Jeremiah 2:25.